Pats hold private workouts with Costa, Chancellor

With a little less than a month to go before the draft and the Pro Day schedule starting to wind down, the Patriots continue to work out collegians across the country.

One of the more intriguing names to come across our desk the last 24 hours or so is Maryland offensive lineman Phil Costa, who, according to a league source, had a private workout with Patriots’ veteran offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia on Thursday. Costa is a 6-foor-3, 300-pound interior lineman out of Maryland who has played guard and center for the Terps (he started all 12 games at center last season for Maryland), but wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. Despite that, his 30 reps and 35.5 vertical jump at Maryland’s Pro Day would have put him in the Top 10 of both categories at the combine.

The Patriots have never been shy about drafting non-combine guys ‘second-round pick Sebastian Vollmer and seventh-round selection Julian Edelman were both taken by New England last season after not getting an invite to the combine. Costa could be next.

According to a league source, the Patriots also had a private workout with free safety Kam Chancellor of Virginia Tech on Friday. Chancellor did get an invite to the combine, and is a more heralded prospect than Costa. The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder certainly has the versatility the Patriots look for in a player ‘ when he arrived at Va. Tech in 2006, he worked initially at quarterback before moving to cornerback and ultimately landing at free safety.

‘I think he’s a guy that’s going to go in the third or fourth round, and he’s a big, physical guy,’ NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock said recently of Chancellor. ‘[He’s] actually a better athlete than I gave him credit for when I put the tape on a few weeks ago. I think he’s got better range than I anticipated.

‘But he’s still one of those 225’plus’or’minus’pound safeties where teams are trying to decide is he a safety. Some teams have even looked at him as a Will linebacker. I think there’s value because he’ll play special teams. I happen to think he can play strong safety in the league. I like him late third, early fourth.’

(UPDATE, 4:46 p.m.: A league source confirms that the Patriots also had a private workout today with Virginia Tech punter Brent Bowden. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Bowden was a first-team All-ACC selection last year, and averaged 43.9 yards per punt last season. The news on Bowden was first reported by the National Football Post.)